Poverty in metropolitan Lima almost tripled in the last 7 years

Between 2016 and 2023, the population living in poverty in metropolitan Lima has grown almost three times, as it went from 11% to 28.7%, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI).

Thus, the capital no longer has that particular distinction for migrant families who—for more than half a century—have seen it as a land of opportunities, according to IRD researcher Javier Herrera.

“Before, provincial Peruvians said ‘let’s go to Lima because there is less poverty and more opportunities’, but now we see that Lima is very close to the national average (29%). (The capital) no longer has that advantage,” he commented for La República.

Even breaking down by geographic area, metropolitan Lima has more poor people than the rest of the cities, considering that the urban average is 26.4%.

He also warns that year after year the situation has been deteriorating and we are moving further and further away from the pre-pandemic level because the policies to close gaps have been on autopilot.

Herrera maintains that the quality of food of the capital’s residents continues to deteriorate, since they have had to restrict their spending on essential goods, to the point that it is estimated that 4 out of every 10 Lima residents are hungry—even more than in the rest of the country. As this newspaper reported, both income and spending capacity at the national level have contracted by up to a little more than 10% in the country, but, in metropolitan Lima, the impact has been more pronounced: -17.1% income per capita monthly and -17.2% real spending. “In 2010, the population with a calorie deficit in Lima was 17.5%, now it has also skyrocketed,” he noted.

Herrera recalls that, in rural areas, the scenario is not so serious because said population has access to its own production.

Data

Eye. Cajamarca (44.5%) is the poorest region and exceeds the national rate by 15.5 pp. They are followed by Loreto (43.5%), Pasco (41.7%) and Puno (41.6%). Meanwhile, in Ica poverty is 6.9%, the lowest in the country.